Germany's Schaeuble advocates "multi-speed governance" in EU -FT

BERLIN, March 23 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble advocates looser "multi-speed governance" for the European Union, he told the Financial Times ahead of a meeting of the bloc's leaders on Saturday to celebrate 60 years of union.

"The federal idea has not gone away but at the moment it has no chance of being realised ," Schaeuble told the paper, conceding that the EU would have to change its approach to integration. "So we have to improve . . . our intergovernmental methods. Second best is always better than nothing."

Schaeuble dismissed any prospect of Germany responding to populist attacks on the bloc by pouring more money into EU budgets, saying: "We must talk about things in the right order. First, more needs to be achieved with the existing EU budget." (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Andrea Shalal)